Article Sidebar
Published:
Feb 7, 2018DOI:
10.4314/gmj.v51i4.4Keywords:
Article Details
Articles published in the Ghana Medical Journal may not be published elsewhere without the consent of the publishers. Request for consent for reproduction of material published in the Ghana Medical Journal should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief. The publisher of this Journal reserves the right of copyright of all articles published in the Journal. It should also be understood by all authors that articles approved for publication in the journal are also deemed for publication online by the publisher.
Ghana Medical Journal is an Open Access journal and applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (Creative Commons Attribution License) 4.0 International. See details on the Creative Commons website (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) to articles and other content published in the Journal.
Main Article Content
Prevalence, perception and correlates of low back pain among healthcare workers in tertiary health institutions in Sokoto, Nigeria
Abstract
Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a common cause of disability worldwide. Healthcare workers are particularly prone to it because of the physical and emotional factors associated with their profession.
Objectives: To determine the prevalence, perception and correlates of LBP among healthcare workers in tertiary health institutions in Sokoto, Nigeria.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 320 healthcare workers selected by multistage sampling technique from July to September 2016. Anthropometry was done for the participants in addition to questionnaire administration.
Results: The mean age of the study participants was 36.99 +/- 8.23 years. The lifetime, annual, and point prevalence of LBP among the participants were 56.2%, 39.1% and 17.2% respectively. Most, 151 (83.9%) of the 180 participants that have ever experienced LBP reported that it commenced after starting work, and they perceived it to be due to standing for long hours (57.2%), awkward postures (22.2%) and carrying heavy objects/patients at work (20.6%). Older age, female sex, longer duration of practice, overweight/obesity, and lifting heavy objects/patients at work were significantly associated with LBP among the participants.
Conclusion: The prevalence of LBP is high among healthcare workers in Sokoto, Nigeria; although it was also associated with older age and female sex, being in practice for 10 years and above, overweight/obesity, and lifting heavy objects/patients at work were the predictors identified. Management of the respective hospitals should prevent workplace exposures to heavy weight/objects by establishing “lift teams” as a temporary measure, and also implement “zero lift programs” in their facilities.
Funding: Nil
Keywords: Prevalence, perception, correlates, low back pain, healthcare workers.
